The Green Shore

I’ve been reading a lot of summery beach reads lately, so I was ready for something a little harder. The Green Shore still has some beaches and romance, but it also has political strife, resistance and passion, highlighting an event I wasn’t aware happened.

The 1967 military coup d’etat that took place in Greece serves as the background and driving force for the events that occur in Natalie Bakopoulos’s first novel. The members of a simple family are affected in different ways by the military takeover of their homeland.

Eleni, widow and mother of 3 teenagers, is still dealing with the loss of her husband and sees how her lack of parenting has affected her children. She finds herself using her skills as a doctor to help the underground resistance movement. Sophie, eldest daughter and free spirit, becomes involved in the resistance through her boyfriend, and is forced to flee to Paris to save herself and her family. Eleni’s brother Mihalis, a poet and activist, has recently been reunited with his wife, and is torn between his loyalty to the resistance and his desire to be with his wife. Anna, youngest daughter and worrier, drifts along in life and becomes involved with an older man, eyeing the rest of her family warily.

The Green Shore highlights how a family is affected by political oppression and the small acts of rebellion that may change their lives. Eleni and her family are essentially good people, but they often do the wrong thing for what they feel is the right reason. They are flawed and human, and not always likable, but they keep the reader interested in what will happen next.

If you’ve had enough of light summer reads, I recommend The Green Shore.

Nancy enjoys her freedom and couldn’t imagine living in a time of oppression. She blogs at Life With My Boys and Books.